Hanneke Van Driel spent 12 years in Mongolia. It is therefore no surprise that the connection is ongoing! Hanneke has now been living in the UK for 3 years and the project in Henti is being led by local people. We have recently had an update and thank you from Caecilie Reuss who is a missionary and representative of HELP International in Nepal. She wrote the following:
'On behalf of HELP International, Mongolia we want to thank you very, very much for the big support we received from you! We appreciate this a lot!
The money was and is mainly being used for our work in the Henti province.
On our compounds in Henti we have a living community and run our different ministries from there. Especially after the long and cold winters always repairs and renovation has to be done to keep the place nice.
The community is the heart of the ministry. It has the goal to train people in discipleship and provide a healthy environment to help people with different kind of difficulties, mainly alcohol addiction. At the moment there are several families (including staff), single women; and men, who want to get free from their alcohol addiction living on our compounds.
Our projects include:
Children and youth work: We meet regularly with children and youth, hand out food for those in need, teach music, do sports and games and discipleship training. We also take the young people on outreaches to meet and help other young people.
Alcohol rehab: We have weekly meetings with people (mainly men) who want to get free from their alcohol addition, and some come to live with us in our community for a few months and start a new life.
Prison work: We go on outreaches into the local prison and others around the country. Soon we are again invited into a High-Security-Prison where we want to help with sponsoring tools for doing carpentry.
Mercy Ministries: We visit those in need, especially the old and/or sick who are bedridden and help with what is needed. During the cold winters we hand out fuel (coal and wood).'
In 2017, through the money raised at Gaston Farm Open Lambing, we were able to help support the building and renovations of a new meeting place in Henti! (See the pictures below)
There are so many connections that Yapton Free Church has developed on the European continent...Netherlands, France and others.
For Steve and Cathy Voke's current prayer letter and update on their work in Chateau Arnoux Saint Auban, Southern France, please email Steve on s.voke1@gmail.com
Our links in the Netherlands have continued to grow with the Dutch coming over to Gaston Farm to assist with lambing and teams from Yapton Free visiting Arnhem church. Hanneke has given us an update on the latest visit below.
Over the years, we've done various different things to help raise money for our projects including cake sales, sponsored walks, cycle rides and more!
To find out more about fundraising for our specific projects, head over to the projects page. (Nepal Project, Soup From Heaven)
From 2009-2017 we enjoyed supporting Gaston Farm at ‘Open Lambing’, which helped us raise considerable sums for our charity projects and local charities. We are incredibly thankful for the opportunity that we had to partner with Gaston farm but since 2018 we have been looking into new ways to fundraise!
The money raised has made and incredible impact around the world from providing water in remote villages in Nepal to supporting local charities such as the Snowdrop Trust. Here's small snippet of what some of the money went towards in recent years:
-Restoring a meeting place in Mongolia
-Providing food and living expenses for a team of 20 people + families in Burundi for 2 months. We were able to send this money out to Burundi at a time when they were desperately in need; some of these people were genuinely starving and with no other income possible, this donation literally kept them alive!
- Running water in remote mountain villages in Nepal
-Earthquake relief after the April 2015 earthquake that devastated many areas in Nepal
- Ray of Sunshine House (a children's home) (Soup From Heaven)
-Soup kitchen in South Africa (Soup From Heaven)
- Our Annual 'Holiday Club' in the Marquee on Yapton Village Green that runs during the first week of the school Holidays for primary-school Children. Throughout the week, there are also other events for all ages of the community from a Senior Citizens's cream to football tournaments and Parent and Toddler Teddy Bear's picnic!
We're always looking for ways to raise funds for our projects, so watch this space for new opportunities...
Take a look at some pictures:
The meeting Place built in Mongolia (below)
The Soup Kitchen (below)
